Air Transportation Services

The UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center is proud to partner with Angel Flight West (AFW), an organization of volunteer private pilots offering the gift of flight to thousands of stricken children and adults for over 30 years.

Along with their commercial airline partners, AFW arranges non-emergency air transportation without cost to qualified passengers. Missions flown by AFW include private pilots volunteering their time and donating all expenses to provide passengers access to treatment at faraway medical centers; transporting blood to critically ill patients; flying special needs kids to summer camps; and many more humanitarian missions.

How to Request a Flight

Angel Flight West provides free air transportation via the kind services of their volunteer pilots. They fly patients to and from scheduled medical treatment. Patients are required to be ambulatory (able to walk and get in and out of the aircraft with little to no assistance) and be medically stable.

Because flights are free of charge, financial need is verified. Other reasons for flying with AFW include living in a rural area isolated from any international airports or patients being immuno-compromised due to a treatment they are undergoing. They only have resources to go no more than a 1,000 nautical miles.

AFW takes in all new requests for possible flights through a doctor, a nurse, social worker or case manager who will request the flight on the patient’s behalf. Several documents are required to be filled out by the doctor, nurse or social worker. AFW requires at least one week to coordinate the flight once complete paperwork is received.

After they receive the request, AFW enters the flight and begins to look for volunteer pilots. Once a pilot has accepted the mission, they will contact the patient directly, and all other arrangements from that point on are made between the pilot and the patient. Unfortunately, Angel Flight West is not a guaranteed service.